July 11, 2012

In the flurry of budget activity last week, Pennsylvania legislators passed what some are billing as the most sweeping changes to the State System of Higher Education since its formation in 1982. To give the 14 state-supported universities the ability to raise more revenue, new laws clear the way for the colleges to begin offering doctorates and allow professors to "commercialize" their research or new products to financially benefit both themselves and their university. Read more at:http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20120707_New_Pa__law_allows_state_universities_new_ways_to_raise_funds.html

July 04, 2012

A federal judge in Washington has overturned a main component of the federal Department of Education’s “gainful employment” rules, which were applied to career-training programs and were hotly contested by for-profit colleges, saying that regulation was arbitrary. The gainful-employment regulations, which were issued last year and were scheduled to go into effect on Sunday, were devised to prevent for-profit colleges, which get the bulk of their revenues from federal student aid, from leaving students with huge debt loads and credentials that provided little help in landing them a job. But Judge Contreras ruled that the 35 percent debt-repayment standard had no basis. Read more at:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/02/education/judge-strikes-a-for-profit-college-regulation.html?_r=3&ref=us

May 29, 2012

New Hampshire's attorney general is looking into claims of conflicts of interest against members of the board of trustees and the investment committee of Dartmouth College in regard to their management of the college's $3.4 billion endowment. A group of Dartmouth faculty members, university employees and alumni — none of whom has come forward publicly — sent the letter earlier this year, but its contents only recently became public when it was posted on an unofficial university blog. The letter accuses the money managers of “enriching themselves” through private equity, venture capital and hedge fund investments made by the endowment. Read more at:http://www.pionline.com/article/20120528/PRINTSUB/305289979/dartmouth-board-members-are-accused-of-enriching-own-firms

April 23, 2012

June marks the 40th anniversary of Title IX, the federal gender-equity law that has made headlines mostly on the sports pages. But over the last decade or so, through a series of court rulings and more recently controversial guidance published by Obama administration, Title IX has shifted onto a different patch of contentious terrain — sexual assault on college campuses. It is transforming how colleges must respond to allegations of sexual violence. The reasoning: Title IX’s key language, running barely 30 words, forbids sex-based discrimination that denies access to educational opportunity. It’s long established that sexual discrimination and harassment can create an atmosphere that denies women their right to education. What’s newer is applying the logic to even a single episode of sexual assault. Read more at:http://articles.boston.com/2012-04-21/news/31379502_1_sexual-violence-sexual-assault-assault-on-college-campuses

February 22, 2012

A University of Massachusetts Amherst student expelled two days after he was arrested in a rowdy post-Super Bowl disturbance on campus is challenging his expulsion in federal court. Cullen Roe argues in a complaint filed in US District Court in Springfield that the university and its officials made an “arbitrary, unfair, intimidating, wrongful, and unlawful decision to summarily expel a student who poses no imminent threat to anyone.’’ The lawsuit said, among other things, that the university violated Roe’s rights under state and federal law. The suit also asked a judge to order the university to lift the expulsion, pay Roe compensatory damages, and pay his lawyer’s fees. Read more at:http://articles.boston.com/2012-02-18/metro/31072512_1_expulsion-suit-student

February 10, 2012

The tenure system at Utah universities will survive for at least another year. The House Education Committee voted 10-4 to snuff a bill Wednesday that sought to bar Utah institutions of higher learning from offering lifetime job protection to incoming faculty. Utah would have been the first state to ban tenure by legislative action. The bill’s opponents said eliminating tenure would severely undermine the ability of Utah universities to attract and retain qualified faculty. Read more at:http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/53473330-90/academic-bill-committee-education.html.csp

January 18, 2012

Michigan students would get free tuition at community colleges and public universities under a plan proposed Thursday by Senate Democrats. The lawmakers say the state pays out $35 billion in corporate tax credits each year, and they want to use some of that money to fund college for Michigan's young people. Michigan high school graduates would be eligible to have tuition and associated costs covered at state community colleges or public universities. Read more at:http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120113/POLITICS02/201130355/1026/